High-school teenager Larry likes to dress up like a woman, complete with fake breasts and a blonde wig. He also enjoys snapping along with the songs of West Side Story. But Larry isn’t gay. He’s simply trying to impress a girl.

That’s just one of the subversive themes running through The War at Home, an oddly appealing new comedy airing Sundays on Fox that returns with new episodes November 6th. The half-hour sitcom stars Michael Rapaport (Mighty Aphrodite, Higher Learning, Hitch) as Dave, the Archie Bunker-type head of a mighty dysfunctional household.

Dave and Vicky (Anita Barone) find out about 15-year-old Larry’s antics in the show’s pilot, and they fret over what to do about their potentially gay son. They are convinced that Larry and best pal Kenny are boyfriends. Understanding, mom says, is the key to a happy and healthy child.

“If you were, you know, a gay, we’d love you no matter what. Not that you are. Are you?” Dave asks. “Kenny isn’t my best friend, he’s my lover. So, would you prefer that he calls you Dave or dad?” retorts Larry, who has grown weary of the curiosity over his sexuality. Sister Hillary (Kaylie DeFer) is quick to chime in, adding “Larry’s not gay, he’s just a fag. There’s a difference.”

The exploration of gay issues is nothing new on prime-time television, but The War at Home presents its themes in a decidedly offbeat way. The jokes are broad and, initially, seem dangerously homophobic. In fact, early reports indicated that Fox entertainment president Peter Liguori was considering cuts to some of the pilot episode’s potentially offensive language and phrasing. (The questionable lines were kept in.)

But the show’s writers aren’t trying to speak for any one particular group, and they don‘t seem to be making sweeping generalizations. They are simply presenting a portrait of one family’s often-foolish reactions to their individual circumstances. In this case, viewers are invited to laugh at them, not with them.

To be sure, The War at Home--created and exec produced by Rob Lotterstein, an openly gay scribe who has written for Will & Grace and Ellen--is hardly a groundbreaking affair, and some of the show’s comic moments are clumsy.

It’s likely that gay themes will be explored throughout the season. Best pal Kenny (Rami Malek) is quickly identified as a closeted gay teen, and he admits to being in love with Larry. Newcomer Malek gives an endearingly awkward performance as the confused friend, and his performance has so far been one of the series’ highlights.

Of course, most of the show’s romantic secrets and inner thoughts are only revealed via direct confessions to the audience in front of a white screen. It will be interesting to see if the technique--which has been used and discarded by many shows--is retained throughout the season. It tends to break up the action and sometimes state the already obvious.

Gay teens and cross-dressing, however, are only appetizers for the full-course exploration of eyebrow-raising topics in this house. Through the unfurling of The War at Home’s first few episodes, we’ve been treated to discourse on chronic masturbation, bondage and rebellious daughter Hillary’s decision to date an African-American classmate, which sends dad into all-out hysteria mode.

Parents Vicky and Dave also worry one of their children may be smoking marijuana--mostly because their own bedroom stash turns up missing. And dad is mortified when his cyber-sex partner is discovered--but that doesn’t keep him from instant-messaging her late at night.

Rapaport’s somewhat abrasive performance as Dave takes some getting used to, but it soon becomes an essential part of the character’s personality. He does indeed echo the knucklehead sentiment of All in the Family’s Carroll O’Connor, but there’s a little more compassion on Dave’s part--when he tries a little.

Barone supplies a nice counterpoint for Rapaport’s hot-headedness, and DeFer dives into the teenage tantrum years of female adolescence with impressive aplomb. Dean Collins (Jack & Bobby, the upcoming feature Yours, Mine and Ours) is appropriately devious as youngest son Mike, and Kyle Sullivan (Malcolm in the Middle) strikes an odd balance of nerd appeal and Charlie Brown wishy-washiness as the put-upon Larry.

In the end, The War at Home isn’t so much about any one hot-button topic as it is about parents who sometimes don’t like their kids, and kids who usually can’t stand their parents. It’s hardly smooth sailing, and it’s often cringe-inducing. Whatever shape, dress size and wig color that takes, it’s likely to cause a few fireworks.

The War at Home returns to the Fox Schedule on November 6;
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